Apparatus for and method of disk rolling



H. Y. HILDEBRAND APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF DISK ROLLING June 30, 1925.

Filed Sept. 30 1919 QINVENTOR EPHHP nllllllllll 31- V 7 Han)" ATTORNEYPatented June 30, 1925.

1,544,317 NITED STATES PATNT FFHCE.

HENRY Y. HILDEBRAND, F JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEuASSIGNMENTS, TO BETHLEHEM STEEL PRODUCTS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OFPENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF DISK ROLLING.

Application filed September 30, 1919. Serial No. 327,509.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY Y. Hmon- BRAND, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the city of J ohnstown, in the county of Cambria andState of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Apparatus for and Method of Disk Rolling; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

My invention relates to a machine for rolling disks from suitable blanksand with r special reference to the manufacture of circular disks whichare thicker at their center portions and tapered thinner toward theiredges,-or thicker at the center and tapered toward the edges and with acomparatively thick edge portion, for use in making variousconstructions. and particularly the disks of automobile wheels and othervehicles, or for agricultural implements, etc.

My invention consists generally of apparatus for firmly clamping andholding a disk by the central portion thereof, while permitting it torotate freely on its axis and inserting the outer portion of the samebetween a pair of suitably shaped opposed rolls, which are tapered orshaped otherwise, to conform to the desired cross section of the disk.The clamping means may be moved to or from the rolls in such a way thatthe disk or portions thereof are grasped by the rolls when the rolls arerotating'to thin, taper, or otherwise shape the disk or blank, and atthe same time increase the diameter of it to the required degree. Theblanks may be of any reasonable thickness and diameter and arepreferably circular disks, although they may be of other shapes, ifdesired.

Having thus given a general description of my invention, I will now, inorder to make the matter more clear, refer to the annexed sheet ofdrawings in which like characters refer to like parts Figure l is avertical longitudinal sectional elevation through the disk clamping androtating mechanism with the rolling mill shown in side elevation; Figure2 is a vertical transverse sectional elevation taken on the line lllliof Figure 1; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating certaindifferent positions of the disks during the working operaton of themachine. Figure 4: is a vertical sectional elevation through the topclamping head or jaw drawn on a larger scale; and Figure 5 illustrates amodification of the clamping heads or jaws.

Referring now to the characters of reference on the drawings :--l is thebase of the machine on which the various arts are mounted, 2 indicatesthe rolling mill in en era] the rolls of which are geared toget er, asillustrated, and driven by an electric or other motor, these rolls beingcarried in suitable housings with adjustable bearings,

the rolls 3 and 4 being shown as overhangmg or projecting outwardly fromone of the housings so that a blank or disk can easily be insertedwithin the tapered or other shaped space between the rolls. 3 is the toproll, 4 is the bottom roll, 5 is an adjustable base on which theclamping and rotating mechanism are mounted, 6 being the slidewaysthereof., 7 are adjusting screws adapted to move and hold the slidingbase in the position desired on the fixed base, this adjustment beingfor the purpose of adjusting the axis of the disk in relation to theaxes of the rolls in such a way that the rolling action may have atendency to pull the material outwardly toward the circumference of thedisk at the same time that it shapes and thins the materials. and thismay be accomplished to different degrees in dif- "ferent positions oithe sliding base in relation to the roll axis. one of the positionsbeing illustrated in Figure 3. 8 is a secondary base portion which ismounted on the sliding base 5 which is adapted to be movedlongitudinally thereof on the slideway 9 by means of the feed-screw 10and its attached hand-wheel 31. Mounted on this secondary base 8 is arevoluble portion 11, which is mounted on ball bearings 12. 13 is theup: per portion of the rotatable frame mounted 'on thepivot bolt 14which passes through the portions 8. ii and 13, and is secured by a notas illustrated. the portions 11 and 13 being secured together by a keycooperating with them and the bolt 14. The lower end of the bolt isprovided with a bevel gear 15 mounted thereon. which meshes with a bevelpinion 16 secured on the shaft 17, which is provided with a largehand-wheel for the purpose of rotating the bevel pinion and causing therotation of the head 13 and its attached portions. Attached to thevupper portion of 13 is a fluid-pressure cylinder 18 having a cross-head19, which is connected with-the top clamping head 22, the portions ofthe clamping heads which contact with the blank or disk being mounted onthe ball bearings 20 so that they can rotate with the rotation ofthe'blank or disk. 21 is the bottom clamping head, 23 is a water inletpipe or passage for the top clamping head and 24 is the outlet pipe forthe same, and 25 is a recess in the face of the clamping head. 26isacentering pin on which the disk is mounted, which pin is mounted onthe lower clamping head and projects upwardly in the hole previouslyformed in the blank for the purpose of centering it on the clampingheads.

The disk in the process of rolling *is indicated as 27 and beforerolling, this disk is of smaller diameter-and may be of uniformthickness. 29 are water inlet pipes for the bottom clamping head and 28are the outlet pipes for the same, the water connections to theinteriors of the clamping heads being for the purpose of supplyingcooling water thereto in order to keep them cool or cold, as theblank'or disk with which they contact is previously made red or whitehot prior to rolling between the rolls 3 and 4.

Referring to Figure 5, 32 is a slightly modified form of upper clampinghead with a square recess 33 therein, into which. the

J upper square portion of the centering pin 34 is adapted to project,the lower portion of. said centering pin beingcylindrical in shape andsecured to the bottom clamping head 21 by a screw-thread or otherwise,as convenient The square form of the upper portion 35 which fits in thesquare recess 33 has the eiiect of locking the two clamping headstogether so that when they are rotated by the disk they will movetogether and not have a tendency to drag upon, mar or tear the disk orblank 27.

Although the disks may be rolled when. the lines of the axes of therolls 3 and 4 intersect the axis of rotation. of the blank or disk, Iprefer to arrange the apparatus in'such a way that the axes of the rollsare slightly removed from the axis of rotation of the disk, for in thatway the rolling action will have a tendency to knead the material towardthe circumference of the disk and further tend to increase its diameter,

as is necessary when it is being rolledof tapered or reduced form. Thisis shown in Figure 3 in which. 3 is the upper roll, the dotted line 38indicates the roll axis, 36 is the position of the blank before therolling begins, 37 is the position of the disk at the completion of theoperation after it is withdrawn from the rolls, 39 indicates the swinging path of the blank or disk, and 40 is the original position of thecenter on which the disk is revolved.

During the operation of the apparatus when the rolls 3 and 4 are formingthe disk, these rolls exert a considerablev pull upon said disk, whichwould have the result of forcibly rotating the upper portion of theapparatus around the pivot bolt 14, and in order to resist this strongpull of the rolls I provide a stop or locking means shown in Figure 2 asfollows:

Secured to the rotatable portion 11 is a stop-piece orbracket 41. theend of which is curved .or recessed and'adapted to contact with the endof the screw 43, which screw is adapted to operate within the internallythreaded nut 46, which is provided with trunnions 47 and mounted on theangle 42 and is secured therein by another member or stirrup 4.4, thisscrew 43 being provided with a hand-wheel 45, as illustrated. One end ofthe'angle 42 is slidably secured to the roll housing nearest the rollsby passing through a stirrup or other construction, se-

cured to the roll housing and the other end of the angle is fastened onthe secondary base 8. As the disk is fed into the rolls,

the rolls pinch and bite the same, having a tendency to rotate the stoppiece and attached portions. but by setting the screw at or in advanceof any predetermined position this tendency to rotate is prevented, andif any slight adjustment may be needed when rolling, this may beaccomplished by the operator moving the hand-wheel 45 in the desireddirection.

I may also provide a retarding and stop mechanism in the form of adash-pot operatingwith air or fluid and controlled by a cataract andvalve.

The operation of my apparatus is as follows :The hand-wheel 30 is turnedin such a way as to rotate the clamping head clear of the rolls, thepiston in the clamping cylinder is withdrawn upwardly, the blank isplaced, on the lower clamping disk with the central hole fitting overthe central pin 34. The piston of fluid-pressure cylinder 18 is thenmoved downwardly with force and clamps the blank between the topclamping head 22 and the bottom clamping head 21, whereupon thehand-wheel 30 is turned, which causes the clamping heads and the blankor disk to swing in the circular path 39 as indicated in Figure 3, afterwhich the hand-wheel 31is turned in such a way as to feed the disk intothe bite of the rolls 3 and 4 while they are revolving. and as theserolls revolve the hand-wheel 30- is continually turned so as togradually feed the disk into the rolls and produce the form illustrated,or any other forms which may be made by this apparatus.

I may also set the base 8 inrequired po- Sition before rolling and thencause the blank to be SWun into the bite of the rolls by rotating the camping heads toward the rolls without sliding the apparatus by thehand-wheel 31.

I may also set the stop or locking means to event revolution of the diskand then feed the disk into the bite of the rolls by advancing theapparatus with the hand wheel 31. I

A reversal of these operations will withdraw the disk in its finishedform, ready for a new blank and the operations proceeds as before.

Although I have described and illustrated my invention in considerabledetail, I do not wish to be limited to the exact and specific detailsthereof as shown and described, but may use such modifications in,substitutions for, or equivalents thereof, as are embraced within thesco e of my invention, or as pointed out in t e claims. i

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is 1. In a disk rollin apparatus, the combination of apair- 0 tapering rolls, a rotatable portion provided with a pair ofclamping heads rotatably mounted thereon, fluid pressure means forprojecting and retracting one-of said clamping heads, and means wherebythe axis of the clamping heads may be maintained in a predeterminedposition with reference to the roll axes.

2. In a disk rolling apparatus, the combination with a pair of rolls, ofa rotatable portion provided with a pair of rotatable clamping headsmounted thereon, said clamping heads being hollow and supplied withfluid cooling means.

3. In a disk rolling apparatus, the'combination with a pair of rolls ofa rotatable head portion, provided with. a pair of rotatable clampingdies, and a retarding stop adapted to abut against said rotatable poraxes, thereby shaping and expanding the blank as desired.

5. In a disk rolling apparatus, outboard rolls and means for rotatingthe same in combination with a movable frame, a pair of rotatableclamping heads mounted thereon, chambers in said clamping heads providedwith fluid cooling means, fluid pressure means for advancing andretracting one of said clamping heads, and means for advancing orretracting saidmovable frame whereby the translation of said clampinghealds is caused to follow a predetermined p 6. In a disk rollingapparatus, the combination of a' pair of rolls, a movable frame. meansfor adjusting the same transversely of the roll axes, a air of hollowvfluid cooled,

rotatable clamping members mounted on said frame and adapted to grip thecentral portion of a blank and means for advancing and retracting theframe whereby the blank is presented to the bite of the rolls in apredetermined location and direction.

In witness whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

HENRY Y. HILDEBRAND.

